The Instagram prankster detained after a week’s investigation has been formally charged with vandalism and theft and turned over to his parents.
The 14-year-old suspect was detained by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Thursday after the boy’s parents brought him to the station, Shirley Miller, sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
Local sheriff’s detectives then took the teen to the Sylmar Detention Center where he was charged with vandalism and theft.
The boy was then released to the custody of his parents.
Detectives learned about video postings on Instagram of a teenage boy seen walking into businesses and causing havoc.
“The case was immediately assigned to the station’s Juvenile Investigative Team, consisting of detectives and School Resource Deputies,” Miller wrote in a news release issued Friday.
Based on the videos, several businesses were contacted in order to identify witnesses, stolen property and locating evidence through surveillance videos from the “victim establishments,” she said.
The Sheriff’s Station also received numerous tips from the community providing information on the multiple suspects, which included the male depicted in the videos and the videographers, Miller wrote in her news release.
“The investigation immediately lead to the identification of the primary suspect in the videos,” she said.
On Tuesday evening, another incident of vandalism was posted on Instagram.
By Wednesday, a juvenile detective was in contact with the parents of the primary subject.
On Thursday, the subject depicted in the videos was brought to the station by his parents and detained on theft and vandalism charges, according to Miller.
“The subject, a 14-year-old Santa Clarita Valley resident, has since been released on a citation to his parents,” she said. The case against the juvenile subject will be submitted to the Sylmar District Attorney’s Office.
Detectives are continuing their investigation and the detention of additional subjects in the near future is anticipated.
The would-be Instagram star is seen on posted video clips stripping down to his underwear and causing havoc by dumping a Slurpee on his head, stealing bowling pins, chicken and pizza.
The boy featured in the video clips was, according to the comments posted in response to his antics online, egged on by a fan base of Instagram commenters.
The stunts involved two boys who recorded the antics of a third boy as he brazenly marched into storefront businesses on Lyons Avenue, near Peachland and Apple streets.
The boy featured in the video clips was, according to the comments posted in response to his antics online, egged on by a fan base of Instagram commenters.
The young aspiring celebrity is dared by his commenters to perform a variety of stunts for the camera, all at the inconvenience, harassment and expense of others.
Four distinct stunts were carried out, recorded and posted online last weekend. A fifth stunt carried out by the same teen allegedly involved the destruction of liquor bottles inside a Newhall liquor store Tuesday.
661-287-5527
On Twitter @jamesarthurholt
